PA1 Safe Use of Pesticides Course

PA1 Safe Use of Pesticides Course

CAFRE offers a range of agricultural short courses with the aim of developing people in the land-based and rural sectors. These courses are suitable for farmers/growers, farm family members, people over 16 years old, and those working in or operating agri-food and rural businesses.

All professional users of pesticides must have a Certificate of Competence. CAFRE offers a range of City and Guilds approved pesticide/spraying courses.

Different types of pesticide application equipment need a different Certificate of Competence and all students are required to initially take and pass a PA1 theory module before they can complete any practical unit.

Once the PA1 theory unit has successfully been completed students can add a range of practical units as required

The next PA1 course will be delivered at Greenmount Campus on 11th February 2019.

The course covers:

Legislation

Interpreting product label

Personal safety and contamination

Pesticide and container storage

Disposals

Record keeping

Environmental factors

This module must be passed before a candidate can progress to the application modules.

The course is assessed by a multiple choice on line assessment which lasts 1 hour.

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This three day study tour will focus on how the latest breeding technologies impact on the profitability and management of beef farm businesses through better meeting market requirements.

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) is offering beef farmers the opportunity to travel to Great Britain to learn about innovative beef breeding technologies. The study tour will visit centres in Wales and the midlands of England.

This study tour is part of the Farm Innovation Visits Scheme which is being delivered by DAERA’s College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE). The tour will include visits to several progressive beef farms that are implementing these innovative breeding technologies to their commercial advantage.

The areas of innovation studied will include:

how breeding techniques such as synchronisation can aid artificial insemination.

how technology can assist in the selection and management of bulls

the use of sexed and hetero-spermic semen.

progeny testing facilitated by electronic management systems.

breeding for a specific market outlet.

The group will leave from Belfast International Airport on the morning of Tuesday 3rd of September and return on the morning of Thursday 5th September. The tour will be led by CAFRE Advisers John Sands and Dominic Mason.

Applications are invited from one member or employee of the farm business with at least 15 suckler cows, who is over 18 years old on the application closing date and not in full-time education. To increase the benefits arising from the study tour, all applicants must identify a group of farmers to share their findings with upon their return. Sixteen places are available and these will be allocated on a competitive basis.

The Farm Innovation Visit Scheme, which is part of the NI Rural Development Programme and part funded by the EU, will cover the costs associated with setting up the visit, accommodation, travel outside of Northern Ireland, breakfast, lunch and evening meals when in Great Britain. Participants will be expected to meet any additional costs, including farm relief and travel insurance.

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Are you in need of some gardening inspiration? Are you inspired by colourful floral arrangements?

Come along and find out more about the full and part-time horticulture courses that we offer at Greenmount, for those currently working and aspiring to work in the industry. For further information on courses and how to find us please check out our Horticulture Courses.

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The CAFRE Agricultural Business Operations (Level II Certificate) Course is now open for 2019/20 applications.

The classes will begin in early October and run weekly for 20 weeks. All of the classes will be based in one of the three CAFRE Campuses – Greenmount, Loughry and Enniskillen. Classes will be sector based and include Dairying, Beef, Sheep, Poultry, Horticulture and Crops.

A range of evenings, Monday to Wednesday will be available, however, choices will become more limited as classes fill up. Therefore, it is important that you book early to ensure you get the training event which best suits your needs. The cost of the course is £150.00.

Andrew Gordon a beef farmer from Fivemiletown who successfully completed the Beef Production course at the Enniskillen Campus in February 2019 said, “I really enjoyed the course and learned a lot from it. It suited me that it was held in the evenings and close to home and I would thoroughly recommend the course to anyone interested in gaining a qualification in agriculture.”

The CAFRE Agricultural Business Operations (Level II Certificate) qualification meets the agricultural training eligibility requirements for the Young Farmers’ Payment/Regional Reserve Scheme. If you require any assistance when booking a place on this training, you can call CAFRE Industry Training Administration on 028 9442 6880 or by emailing Industry.TrainingAdmin@daera-ni.gov.uk

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Don’t miss the opportunity to see one of County Antrim’s most beautiful gardens at its best! Enjoy the glorious gardens at Greenmount Campus, visit our outdoor classroom and learn about our courses.

Open Days at the Walled Garden and Woodland Trails, CAFRE, Greenmount Campus 2019

Floristry – 29th and 30th June

Koi and Bonsai – 3rd and 4th August

Come along and find out more about the full and part-time horticulture courses that we offer at Greenmount, for those currently working and aspiring to work in the industry. For further information on courses and how to find us please check out our Horticulture Courses.

Opening Hours:

Saturday 10am-5pm
Sunday 1pm-5pm
Taster activities will be held at 2pm each day.

There will be a limited range of plants for sale.

Greenmount Campus, 45 Tirgracy Road, Muckamore, Antrim BT41 4PS

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Lambing at CAFRE’s Hill Farm Development Centre, Glenwherry is now well underway. Weather conditions have proved very favourable allowing ewes and lambs to be turned out to pasture within a few days of lambing.

The main focus at the CAFRE Hill Farm Development Centre is the integration of the livestock enterprises and environmental management. The farm is partially situated within the Antrim Hills Special Protection Area (SPA) for hen harrier and merlin.

The Hill Farm Development Centre has the capacity to run up to 1100 breeding ewes producing ewe lamb replacements, store and finished lambs. The majority of lambs are finished at the CAFRE Dairy Centre with a small proportion sold as store lambs. The stratified sheep breeding programme consists of a hill flock of pure Blackface ewes and an upland flock of Texel/Blackface crossbred ewes. A number of Blackface ewes are crossed to Swaledale to introduce hybrid vigour. The upland/crossbred flock is crossed with Texel, Meatlinc or Lleyn.

Lambing commenced on the 18th March 2019 with just over 500 ewes lambed to date. The pure Blackface flock scanned at 154% with the Upland/Crossbred flock scanning at 165%.

All lamb birth weights etc. are recorded through the Shearwell system to help monitor growth rates and performance throughout the year and to help select the best performing animals to be retained as breeding stock.

Educational Role

The Hill Farm Development Centre plays a key role through providing resource for the delivery of CAFRE education, training and Knowledge Technology Transfer (KTT) programmes to students, farmers and landowners. It is used extensively to demonstrate, profitable and sustainable livestock production while simultaneously seeking to improve habitat condition.

Students on the Foundation degree in Agriculture and Technology course and the BSc (Hons) Agriculture Technology course, (jointly delivered with Queen’s University Belfast), UPLANDS (Uniting the Production of Livestock and Nature Development for Sustainability) project are closely involved with the husbandry and management of the CAFRE Hill Farm Development Centre. Students gain valuable experience at lambing time. Students have full access to the recently constructed new sheep unit at the Hill Farm Development Centre and have the opportunity to gain experience in relation to the innovative technologies included within the house.

The conference opened with Associate Professor Jane Williams from Hartpury University presenting an enthusiastic scientific view of performance analysis in equestrian sport, as well as the emerging technology which can be used to gather information in this important area.

The next speaker was Victoria Lewis also from Hartpury University who gave a very informative and interesting discussion on the topic of pain and injuries in horse riders and reported on the injury types and management strategies used by riders in different equestrian disciplines.

The afternoon session began with Assistant Professor Siobhan O’Connor from Dublin City University speaking about the extremely important subject of injuries and falls seen in the racing sector of the industry, with particular emphasis on concussion and its effect on riders.

To close the conference, Poppy Blandford who works as a performance coach for equestrian athletes, spoke about the physiological factors affecting rider performance she then shared her views on managing mindset and the positive effect this can have on performance.

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“Spring is the time for plans and projects” (Leo Tolstoy) – So if you looking for ideas for your future career visit one of The College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise’s (CAFRE) Spring Open Days to discover the excellent courses and careers available in the agri-food and land-based industries. During the Open Days, you will have the opportunity to hear about the wide range of courses on offer, meet and talk to staff and current students, tour the campus facilities and gain an insight into life and study at CAFRE.

Loughry Campus, Cookstown provides courses in Food Technology, Food Business Management, Food Innovation and Nutrition and Postgraduate courses in Business for Agri-food and Rural Enterprise. Loughry’s Open Day is on Tuesday 2nd April, between 3 and 8pm, so come along and check out what Loughry’s courses can offer you.

Greenmount Campus, Antrim is well known as the key provider of courses in Agriculture, Horticulture, Land-based Engineering, Floristry and Veterinary Nursing. The Greenmount Campus Open Day is on Wednesday 3rd April, between 3 and 8pm.

For those considering a career in the equine industry, the date for your diary is Saturday 6th April at 12 noon in Enniskillen Campus.

All our courses prepare you for a successful career in your chosen industry and make extensive use of the excellent teaching and practical facilities at each Campus. 92% of CAFRE students have secured jobs or progressed on to higher education within 6 months of graduation.

For more information on any of our courses freephone 0800 0284291 or visit our the course finder page on this website.

Zara Fulton and Dionne McEvoy (Foundation Degree in Food, Nutrition and Health students) and Robert Hamilton and Sam Morrison (Level 3 Extended Diploma in Agriculture students) invite students to attend the spring Open Days at CAFRE to discover more about agri-food and land land-based courses at Enniskillen, Greenmount and Loughry Campuses.

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Rachael Addy, from Dromore in Co.Down, receives a £1000 bursary from John Chambers of the Tyrone Farming Society

Rachael Addy, a first year Honours Degree in Equine Management student, was the lucky successful recipient of the Tyrone Farming Society’s bursary which was awarded as part of the Careers Day at Enniskillen Campus.

First year Honours Degree students, who choose the equitation module, were required to produce a report on the influence the training scale has on a horse’ way of going and its impact on soundness and longevity.

Rachael comes from Dromore in Co.Down, she has a keen interest in show jumping and eventing. Over the years Rachael has developed a deep love of horses and enjoys working with them in hand and under saddle. Rachael intends to work in the equine industry and has joined the Honours Degree to further develop her equine career.

Racheal is extremely grateful to the Tyrone Farming Society for the opportunity to win the bursary and intends to use it to support her time at Enniskillen Campus.

CAFRE would also thank the Tyrone Farming Society for affording the students the opportunity to obtain a bursary to assist them with their studies.

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Anthony Conway along with his son Sean farm suckler cows and sheep just outside Newtownstewart in County Tyrone. When the Business Development Groups (BDG’s) were first launched in November 2015 Sean joined his local suckler cow group. In 2018, following on from Sean’s experiences with his group, Anthony applied and was accepted to his local sheep group

North Tyrone Business Development Group farmers discuss the use of minerals pre calving.

Sean hosted his suckler cow BDG on the evening of the 6th of March where the group were given a farm overview and rundown on their current system and practices. Local vet, Maria Morris also attended to provide professional advice on the main issues to be addressed when preparing for and managing calving in suckler cows.

The group discussed the feeding of pre – calving minerals with Anthony showing examples of minerals fed on farm. In addition to powdered minerals the Conway’s also apply 7 ml of 5% Tincture of Iodine to the flanks of their cows at least four weeks pre – calving. A lack of vitamin E, iodine and selenium can result in more difficult calving, cows holding the placenta with calves slower to rise and suckle.

A calving gate similar to the one recently installed on Sean’s farm.

The group assessed the body condition score (BCS) of the spring calving herd. According to Ms Morris, cows achieving a body condition score of less than BCS 2 at calving can be slower to get back in calf, have more health issues, lower quality colostrum and lower milk yields affecting calf growth rates. Sorting and feeding cows according to BCS, can result in savings on the amount of silage consumed. It was also stressed that trying to adjust BCS in the final weeks of gestation was not advisable and in fact during this period cows should have access to ad lib silage.

Some group members questioned the use of scour vaccines. On group members farms where scour had been an issue, vaccines were seen as money well spent, reducing labour requirements and improving calf performance. Hygiene and good management was also deemed necessary to reduce calf mortality.

Ms Morris pointed out that as calves are born with no immunity they are dependent on antibodies received from the colostrum of their dam. Three to four litres of colostrum is essential as soon as possible after birth. The level of antibody absorption from colostrum is likely to be minimal once the calf is 18 – 24 hours old. Where possible farmers should build up a supply of frozen colostrum preferably from cows on the farm.

The Conway’s move their cows to the calving pens at least one week prior to calving. This allows the animals to settle into their environment, reducing stress while also avoiding delays in labour. Pens are cleaned and disinfected with a good covering of straw to ensure a clean and dry bed for the calf.

A new calving gate has recently been purchased on the farm. According to Sean and Anthony the calving gate in the shed is very important. Apart from the obvious benefits at calving, it also allows the cow to be confined for safe working with the calf (tagging/injecting), which is especially important if you are on your own.

The first cow from the spring calving herd is due to calve within the next few days. Sean has all the calving equipment available. The calving jack and ropes are clean and disinfected. Disposable gloves, lubricant, iodine, electrolyte and the stomach tube are ready and waiting for action. This will be a busy time on farm with 430 ewes also ready to lamb.

The group finished the meeting indoors with a good discussion and sharing of experiences both past and present on issues faced during the busy calving and lambing periods. The next meeting for the group has been arranged for early in May when we will visit another group member’s farm and discuss where grazing management will be the focus of discussion.

The Business Development Groups scheme is partly funded under the EU NI Rural Development Programme 2014-2020

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First year students completing the BSc Honours Degree in Agricultural Technology honed their interview skills recently by going through a mock interview process with interview panels hosted by members of the Northern Ireland Institute of Agricultural Science (NIIAS).

Leanne Green took first place in the mock interview competition for the job of Agricultural Sales Specialist and Josh Fegan took second place. Francis Lively (centre), NIIAS, was a member of the interview panel

Stephen Speers (left) took first place in the mock interview competition for the job of Working Estate Manager and Laura Allen took second place. NIIAS members Jason Rankin (centre) and Jim Freeburn conducted the interviews

Bronagh Dempster took first place in the mock interview competition for the job of Poultry Technical Officer and Lee McAllister (left) took second place. Interviews were carried out by NIIAS member Dr Sam Kennedy

Caleb Scott (left) took first place in the mock interview competition for the job of Ruminant Nutrition Advisor and Alice Hutton took second place. NIIAS members Norbury Royle (right), and Glynnis Mills conducted the interviews

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Students at CAFRE Enniskillen Campus were recently awarded bursaries from various equine businesses and organisations. These organisations assist students directly by providing up to £1,000 and the students are chosen by submitting an assignment, a CV or attending an interview.

Megan Norton, a final year student on the Foundation Degree in Equine Management was the worthy recipient of the Horse Sport Ireland bursary. In order to win this bursary Megan had to produce a marketing plan. The aim was to produce social media posts including pictures and videos and a written marketing strategy for an upcoming Sport Horse event.

Megan is from Greenisland and regularly competes in Working Hunter and other disciplines outside of college. Megan has a keen interest in nutrition and hopes to pursue this as a future career. She hopes that this bursary will help her to travel and widen her knowledge of the equine industry worldwide.

CAFRE’s Enniskillen Campus is pleased to have this partnership with such an important organisation for the Sport Horse Industry.

For further information on the equine courses offered at Enniskillen Campus, check out our website or follow us at DiscoverCAFRE on Facebook and Instagram.

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The annual Greenmount Association Spring Farm Walk takes place on Wednesday 10th April with a visit to Iain McLean, Priestland Holsteins and Dundarave Estate in Bushmills.

The visit will begin with award winning Priestland Holsteins opening their farm gates at 10.45am. Iain and family farm 118 hectares and are currently milking 130 pedigree Holstein cows on an all year round calving system and 200 young stock alongside 17 Jerseys, 26 Ayrshires and 14 dairy Shorthorns. Cows are currently producing a 305 day average of 10,000 litres. This visit provides an excellent opportunity to view some outstanding breedlines.

The second part of the day features a visit to Dundarave Estate, purchased in 2014 by Randox Laboratories. There are currently 600 breeding ewes, 70 Shorthorn suckler cows farmed on this 520 hectare estate and 30,000 pheasants are reared. They also grow 40 hectares of barley, using the straw for bedding and feed. The Estate also currently provides a one year work placement opportunity for two CAFRE agriculture students.

Booking for the Spring Farm Walk is essential. To book your place please contact CAFRE Education Admin on 028 9442 6700. There will be a fee of £10/person for lunch, which will be collected on arrival.

Georgia Osprey, Antrim, is a first year Further Education student at CAFRE Enniskillen Campus. She is studying on the Level 3 Advanced Technical Extended Diploma in Equine Management programme and has become the proud recipient of the Showjumping Ireland (SJI) bursary, which was presented during the annual equine careers event at Enniskillen Campus.

Georgia was awarded the bursary for achieving the highest practical mark in her Prepare Horses for Presentation module. This module enables students to learn about the theory and practical elements associated with horse grooming and turning horses out for inspection. Georgia said she was delighted to have achieved top marks. She has learnt a range of new skills and feels much more confident with these practical elements.

Georgia has developed her interests while at CAFRE and has worked in racing and eventing yards to help develop her skills. Georgia hopes to use her bursary to enable her to travel and broaden this knowledge further once she completes her studies.

CAFRE Enniskillen Campus is pleased to have established this partnership with Showjumping Ireland and is delighted to be able to offer such a valued award to students undertaking Further Education courses at CAFRE Enniskillen Campus.

If you are interested in a career in the equine industry, then check out the courses that we offer on our website at www.cafre.ac.uk or follow us at DiscoverCAFRE on Facebook and Instagram.

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Farming in County Down, Dan Gilchrist is an engineer by profession. He entered farming with no formal agriculture qualification.

Dan Gilchrist from County Down, a member of a CAFRE suckler cow Business Development Group is planning for turnout. He is seen here assessing the grass cover on one of his swards using a plate meter.

In 2014 Dan completed the Level II Agriculture Business Operations Course to develop his knowledge and skills and to gain a recognised agricultural qualification. He then joined the CAFRE Business Development Group (BDG) scheme which initially opened for applications in November 2015. Dan explained, “The level II Agricultural Business Operations course consisted of classroom based learning with sessions taught largely during the winter months. They provided a good, sound, basic knowledge of agriculture. The BDG meetings are generally more practical and business focussed and mostly held out on farm. They allow me to observe practices being adopted in real terms, touched on what we learned in the Level II course but being implemented by the farmers in our BDG group.

I am in a suckler BDG and I now have the opportunity to obtain a Level III agriculture qualification which will be very beneficial to my business going forward. I can complete the business planning module as I benchmark my farm business and the animal production module from the practical ideas which I pick up at the meetings. The Health and Safety module focuses on the SAFE (Slurry, Animals, Falls and Equipment) campaign and is very important aspect to focus on.

I have hosted one of the meetings on my farm which focused on a reseed which I wasn’t particularly happy with as it had not established as well as I would have liked. As a group we discussed how to bring about improvements to it; Twenty heads were better than one! Discussion was constructive. I took on board the suggestions and it has led to a complete transformation of the sward.

Over the past couple of years I have adopted some of the technologies that are working on other group members farms. One major adoption has been the implementation of a paddock grazing system which has enabled me to grow more grass thereby allowing myself to carry more stock on the same grazing platform. As a result of this my stocking rate has increased and as my farm grows in productivity, an expansion plan is now in place”.

Whilst Dan is operating the paddocks he has been measuring grass covers to monitor grass growth to assist with the management of the grazing swards. Dan is using a grass plate meter to assess current grass cover and determine an early 2019 turnout date, weather permitting.

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Over 1000 farm family members have now been trained as part of the Farm Family First Aid Programme. This training is delivered to farm family members throughout Northern Ireland under the Farm Family Key Skills (FFKS) scheme.

Information from the Farm Safety Partnership has highlighted that as many as 100 accidents per month require medical attention on Northern Ireland farms. Mr Harry Sinclair who is chair of the Farm Safety Partnership said “It is great to see so many people availing of the opportunity of gaining First Aid knowledge. Whilst we endeavour in Farm Safety Partnership to reduce the number of farm accidents, it is still very important for people to know about basic First Aid skills if required”

This training is specifically tailored to the farming sector, covering a wide range of first aid emergencies encountered on farms. This course allows participants to deal with emergency situations confidently, promptly and safely. People attending a workshop will also receive a complimentary First Aid box with training on its contents and their use to treat minor injuries.

Mr Gareth Feeney who is the Chairperson of Park & District Farms Association was the 1000th trainee on the course. Gareth along with Caroline Lynch of Learmount Group organised the training for farm families and employees in the Park area. Mr Feeney said ‘We recognised the value of training farmers, families and farm employees on what to do in the event of a medical emergency or accident. The training was very enjoyable and it gave everyone the opportunity to learn key life-saving skills, practice carrying out treatments and discuss what to do in the event of different scenarios. I would fully recommend that other farming groups take advantage of this opportunity as knowing what to do can make a huge difference”.

The training is free to farming families and is delivered by NFU Mutual and Global Horizon Skills Ltd. It is important element of the Rural Development Programme 2014 -2020.

Due to the practical nature of the course, training is delivered to groups of 20 people.

A number of open courses arranged for March and April. The dates and times of these first aid courses are available at:

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CAFRE will be holding a full day workshop aimed at equine businesses and professionals wishing to develop and grow their equine enterprises

CAFRE will be holding a full day workshop aimed at equine businesses and professionals wishing to develop and grow their equine enterprises. The workshop will take place on Thursday 4 April at The Armagh City Hotel. The day will run from 9:30am – 4:30pm and refreshments will be provided.

The workshop will have two main speakers, June Burgess is an international event horse producer and rider, a previous organiser of the Ballygraffin Horse Trials and owner of the Fitzwilliam Hotel in Belfast. June will share her knowledge on developing business principles and facilitate workshop delegates in identifying key markets and opportunities to achieve their business objectives.

Carrie de Silva from Harper Adams University will advise on equine health and safety and ‘Keeping on the right side of the law’. Employment law and insurance will be covered with delegates having the opportunity to identify areas of high risk in their own businesses under the guidance of an expert.

The workshop is aimed at anyone involved in an equine business or service including riding schools, instructors, coaches, producers, tack shops, veterinary practices, farriers and many more. If you would like to develop your business further, get inspiration on taking the first step, or safeguarding against legislative errors, this workshop has something for everyone.

The cost of the workshop is £30 per person and includes a light lunch and refreshments.

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First Trust Bank have announced the results of their farm business management competition for final year Foundation degree students at CAFRE’s Greenmount Campus. First place has been awarded to Andrea Rooney (Tassagh), the runner-up is Christopher Ruddock (Donaghcloney) and third placed is Jamie Adair (Banbridge).

In the first part of the competition, students were asked to present an analysis of the performance of a farm that they were familiar with considering both farm enterprises and the overhead costs. For the second part, students had to propose an appropriate development idea for their farm and assess the implications of the change including its effect on cash flow and profitability. The project considered any expenditure on farm buildings, machinery or stock, bank borrowings and repayments. The plans also forecast the effect of possible changes in key costs and selling prices.

The leading business development plans from this group of students ranged from dairy herd expansion, new entrant robotic milking unit, contracting business, suckler expansion and new start free range broiler units, with detailed costings and cashflows presented.

The competition judge from the First Trust Bank, Eoin Donnelly (Agriculture Business Manager) discussed the proposed development with each student and assessed their understanding of the proposed changes. Eoin then provided feedback to the students reinforcing the importance of business plans to show a return on the investment made through use of sound financial and physical performance figures. The use of benchmarking to ensure projections are tempered by reality is also an important tool.

Overall winner, Andrea Rooney, now progresses to the next stage of the competition in June which is the AIB and Teagasc All Ireland Challenge and includes competitors from six colleges and a full day of assessment of business plans.

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Students at CAFRE Enniskillen Campus were recently awarded bursaries from various equine businesses and organisations. These organisations assist students directly by providing up to £1,000 and the students are chosen by submitting an assignment, a CV or attending an interview.

One of the bursaries was provided by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) and was awarded to Emma O’Brien Maher from Co. Kildare. Emma is a first year student undertaking the Honours Degree in Equine Management. Students were required to submit a marketing plan for a Horse Racing Ireland event. The aim was to produce a social media campaign to promote attendance and encourage people to go racing.

Following her win Emma revealed “I’ve had a huge interest in horses since a young age and in recent years I’ve taken an interest in racing. Recently, I’ve taken up photography, specialising in racing events. Some of my photographs have featured in The Irish Field & on establishments’ websites. I was very lucky to win the bursary given by HRI by promoting an upcoming Irish racing event. I intend to save my prize money and put it towards a car and driving lessons in the future.”

The Management, staff and students at Enniskillen are extremely appreciative of this excellent support from Horse Racing Ireland.

For further information on the equine courses offered at Enniskillen Campus, check out our website on www.cafre.ac.uk or follow us at DiscoverCAFRE on Facebook and Instagram.

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Sharing expertise on improving dairy margins at Rodney Clarke’s farm at Maguiresbridge are from left Darren McCormick, Rodney Clarke, Trevor Dunn and Brian Cowan, all members of the Fivemiletown BDG dairying group.

Fivemiletown Business Development Group working to improve efficiency.

Rodney Clarke of Littlemount, Maguiresbridge, Co Fermanagh has recently hosted his local Fivemiletown Business Development Group. At the farmwalk the group discussed the profitability of the family farm and improving efficiencies of milk production. Rodney highlighted the necessity for high quality silage in the ration and accurate feed efficiency to ensure that his 80 cow herd produces sufficient milk of a high quality. With an annual average yield of 8000 litres with 2000 litres produced from forage, Rodney’s herd has been performing well over the year. This is a typical family farm for the area and for those in this BDG group. Facilitated by Olwen Gormley, this group is working towards their overall objective of improving efficiency of milk production through better use of forage, feeding, breeding and cow welfare. In addition to a range of topics covered to meet the business needs of the group, there is a good rapport and discussion between the group members who are open to share ideas and develop their businesses. In difficult times the 17 group members support each other and have built up friendships.